Red Eyes
by Desodus
Summary: Jaune takes an unsuspecting turn during the night and enters a life-changing situation. Hopefully he doesn't die.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any intellectual property showcased here, except maybe bits and pieces, but not the whole pie.**

**I RAGRET NOTHING WRITING THIS!**

**I do regret misspelling 'regret' though...**

* * *

**Red Eyes**

* * *

Jaune tucked his hands deeper in the pocket of his hoodie as he quickly made his way through the dark streets of Vale.

He had been out this night to pick up something that was currently ducked safely under his arm, squished against his body and hidden as best as possible.

The rectangular object was one of his most prized obsessions, but also the source of his eternal shame; it was a book.

But not just any book, no.

It was the final book of the Ninjas of Love Trilogy; _Ninjas of Love: The Daimyo's Fury_

So you could see why Jaune didn't want people to see him with particular book in his hands, let alone his teammates.

Man, if there was one way to look even worse to your teammates than losing every single spar, than getting caught with this book was it.

All Jaune had to do now was sneak back into his room without waking any of his teammates...

A lot easier said than done.

Jaune shivered slightly from the cold, his breath misting as he exhaled.

It was kinda hard seeing properly with the streetlamps out.

Squinting into the dark; if memory served him right, there was an alleyway that cuts through the block and leads right to the airship platforms, it was just too dark to truly tell.

He gave the area one last cursory glance to make sure he was in the right direction before heading down the alley.

Shivering again as the wind blew by, sending chills skittering down his back. He shifted the position of his newly bought book and placed it inside the pouch of his hoodie now.

The only sound was of his breathing, and footsteps.

**CLANG**

Jaune whirled around at the sudden loud noise, but there was nothing there, just some trash cans, one of the lids rolled by before stopping at his foot.

Jaune kicked the offending piece of metal away with another loud CLANG before giving his head a shake; there was nothing to be scared of... though it wouldn't hurt if he ran all the way to the airship docks.

Yeah, better if he ran.

So Jaune began sprinting full throttle down the alley; not because he was scared of the dark, , no, totally not that, but because his teammates would wonder where he was and he didn't want to make them worry.

Yeah, that was it.

Jaune huffed as he ran, before skidding to a sudden stop, a look of surprise and shock upon his face.

Before him was an unfamiliar sight, instead of the alleyway opening outwards and exiting into the main street in front of the airship docks, he was currently gazing blankly at a brick wall.

It appears that he had taken a wrong turn.

He sighed as he rested his head against the brick wall, taking a moment to catch his breath.

taking a look around him, there wasn't anything to be actually afraid of; a pile of refuse in a corner, some old cardboard boxes, a shadow with glowing red eyes staring back at him, some mo-

Wait...

Jaune broke out in a cold sweat, his eyes remained rooted to what was in front of him.

He had to check.

He needed to make sure.

But he didn't for the love of Monty want to.

He forced his head to move, to turn and face the place where the deepest shadows lay.

And to his horror, the glowing red eyes were there, but now, they were accompanied by listening white fang.

Whatever it was gave a hiss.

Jaune screamed shrilly.

He was still screaming when he felt himself get tackled and struck the wall behind him.

His scream cut off as his head struck the wall squarely, causing him to choke back his cries of terror.

He looked up as whatever held him bent over, scared stiff as white canines lengthened and closed in on his neck.

_'Move, move move!'_

But his body failed to respond and Jaune felt the sharp teeth pierce his neck.

Jaune tried to cry out in pain, but for some reason there was no strength in his body, not even his throat was obeying his mind.

He could only let out a gurgle as he felt the teeth work into his neck. He could physically feel his blood being siphoned from his body.

His vision was tightening and tunnelling, blackness creeping from the corners of sight. He couldn't feel his body, he didn't even have the strength to be scared anymore.

As dark sports began to overtake his vision, that was when the clouds parted and moonlight shined down upon him, bathing the alleyway in dim light.

Jaune finally had a good view of what was currently sinking its fangs into him;

It was a girl, a little girl, she couldn't have looked a day over ten with long blonde hair that fell past her waist.

That was the last thing he saw as everything blissfully turned black.

* * *

she felt the boy die in her arms, her breathing evening after the meal as she retracted her head to inspect her victim.

It had been too long since her last feeding. She had almost ripped the boy limb from limb in her near-feral state.

Now there was only the need to get rid of the body, but that was simple, since the Grimm came into existence, a simple dumping of the body into the Emerald Forest and some beowolf would probably come munch on th-

She stopped, her ears perking.

Eyes widened in shock.

It was supposed to be impossible, a one-in-a-million chance.

she almost burst out loud with laughter at the absurdness of the sudden situation.

The sound of the beat thumping in her ear.

Searching the boy, she found a scroll with the Beacon insignia and a paperback novel in a brown paper bag.

Inspecting the book in the bag. "You naughty boy" she said as she placed the book back in its place inside his hoodie pouch and returned the scroll back into his jean pocket, she easily hefted his body as she bent her knees in preparation of scaling the alley wall in one jump.

She jumped into the air... well, more like she _tried_ to jump into the air, but she only cleared several centimetres of air before falling back down, almost collapsing with the weight of the boy on her.

It appears she was still lacking much of her original power.

It seems that only left the hard way then...

She turned around and began to half drag, half carry the boy's body.

* * *

Jaune screamed as he came awake, his sudden movements caused him to fall out of his seat and land upon the floor, directly on top of a book.

He peeled the book from his face and realized that it was the Ninjas of Love book he had gone out to buy.

It took him a moment to realized that he was in fact, not in an alleyway currently getting the life-juice sucked out of him, but he was- had- been sitting on one of the pews in a familiar airship.

He looked around, there were a couple other people on the airship with him, and a couple of them were giving him weird looks, causing him to redden.

He winced as he felt a twinge of pain upon his neck.

His neck!

Jaune brought a hand up to his neck, but he only found smooth skin there, no punctures at all. He even brought out his scroll and activated the camera function to make sure; though he was slightly pale, he looked none the worse for wear.

He was extremely tired though.

After the initial shock had receded, Jaune sat back in his seat and closed his eyes, the events in the alleyway seemingly nothing more than a bad dream.

* * *

Jaune didn't remember how he made it back to his dorm room, but by this point, he was far from caring; it was late into the night and Jaune was feeling extremely tired right, more so than ever before.

Making sure the book was well hidden underneath a corner of his mattress, Jaune plopped into his bed without another care, not even remembering to change into his onesie as he fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

The next day, Jaune woke up feeling tired, in fact, he felt more so than the previous night; he felt sluggish, like his body was encased in gelatine.

He squinted at the sunlight filtering into the room before looking away, blinking back spots from his eyes.

He also didn't remember the sunlight being that strong.

Assuming everything stemmed from the fact that he had gotten back late, and so, had less sleep than usual, he took a glance around the room and found it empty except for himself.

Wondering where the rest of his team was, his eyes came across a folded letter beside his bed.

Picking it up, Jaune scanned the note before crumpling it up and throwing it away.

He now had to shower and get dressed before meeting the NPR of JNPR for breakfast.

Once he was done cleaning himself, he began getting dressed, he was adjusting his tie when he heard a knock at his door.

"Gimme a second!" Jaune called as he grabbed his bag and scroll.

Once with everything, he went and answered the door.

"Morning, Vomit Boy" It was Yang standing on the other side.

But Yang looked... different to Jaune, he didn't understand why.

Oh, he knew she was beautiful, but today, for some reason, he _truly _looked at her.

He couldn't stop himself from examining her figure more in-depth, from her head to her toes. He saw her fair skin, the way her thigh-high socks just barely didn't reach the bottom of her skirt, creating a "absolute zone' of visible unblemished thigh, her hourglass figure, her sizable... gauntlets, her lilac eyes filled with humor, her carefully maintained golden hair, and her rosy cheeks.

But none of that drew his attention like her neck, which was usually covered by her orange scarf, was now left bare in her school uniform.

Jaune's eyes tracked their way to the junction just where her neck and shoulder met.

He didn't understand why, but he felt the compulsion to run his tongue over that spot, to feel her shudder as he tasted her skin, as he felt the heartbeat that pumped precious blood through the rest of her body.

Suddenly, the thought of blood made him salivate, almost uncontrollably.

Jaune clamped a hand over his mouth to stop the drool as he suddenly came back to Remnant. His jaw ached like someone had just given him a good uppercut.

He blink in confusion at his body's reaction to seeing Yang. Before blushing as a look of surprise and shame crossed his face before he readjusted his eyes back upwards. An apology upon his lips as he opened his mouth.

But it died in his throat as he saw her expression; it was almost trance-like. Her eyes had become were somewhat dull as her own wandered up and down Jaune's body, the beginning of a flush creeping across her face as she bit her lip.

"Yang? Remnant to Yang?" Jaune asked, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Hmm?" Yang intoned slowly, before she gave a shake of her head, as if waking up from a dream, her eyes focusing back on Jaune's. "Sorry Vomit Boy, mind blanked, must be because its Monday"

she gave smile as she placed her hands upon her hips.

"Anyway, I was going to ask if the illustrious team JNPR wanted to eat breakfast with the beautiful members of Team RWBY"

"Well, the rest of my team is already in the caf..."

"Then why are you still here?" Yang asked, her eyebrows scrunching slightly.

"Slept in" Jaune answered, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Oh, then come with the rest of my team" Yang offered.

""Yeah, sure" Jaune said as he moved out of his room.

He had expected Yang to move back to make room for him, but when he turned back from closing his door, he found her directly in front of him, almost pressed up again him.

Jaune scrunched himself back as far as possible, trying to phase back through his dorm room.

"There was an inquisitive look on Yang's face.

"There's something different about you" she noted, held tilted to the side in thought. "But I just can't seemed to put my finger on it..."

"What?" Jaune asked .

"Never mind, probably just my imagination" Yang said with a shrug as she turned from Jaune and made her way back across the hall to her own room.

She opened the door just enough to stick her head in;

"You guys ready? The others are already eating breakfast at the cafeteria"

"Yep!" Jaune heard Ruby chirp from the other side of the door.

A second later, Team Ruby's dorm door opened fully to reveal its occupants.

Once more, Jaune was assaulted with a severe ache in his jaw as the members of Team RWBY stepped into the hallway where he waited.

The ache increased in severity as each one of them stepped out and Ruby closed the door behind herself.

Jaune was forced to cradle and massage his jaw along the way to the cafe, keeping quiet as the four girls talked amongst themselves.

"Is there something wrong, Jaune?" a voice interrupted his thoughts.

Jaune looked up from his rubbing to see Blake looking at him. He shook his head. "Nothing, my jaw just hurts"

He winced as he rotated his jaw.

"Oh, did you eat too much candy?" Ruby asked with a look of worry.

"No, it started hurting this morning" Jaune answered as he rubbed his jaw again.

"Hey, maybe Weiss can make you an icepack!" Ruby suggested as she turned to her partner with a smile.

"I am NOT using my precious dust to make the buffoon an ice pack" Weiss declared, crossing her arms and giving her leader a deadpanned look.

Ruby frowned at her.

"It's fine" Jaune said, stepping into the conversation before the situation escalated into an argument with Weiss. "I'll just get an icepack from the nurse before class starts"

Team RWBY plus Jaune arrived at the cafeteria and easily found their friends; the one place in the room with a stack of pancakes that towered over everyone's heads.

The four girls went and entered the line for service at the counter, while Jaune sat down beside Pyrrha, not feeling all that hungry at the moment.

"Are you not feeling well, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, concern in her eyes.

"Nah" Jaune answered, waving away her concerns. "My jaw's been killing me all morning, I think I'm going to need some ice though..."

Jaune trailed off as his eyes were drawn down from Pyrrha's eyes to her neck.

Her very swan-like neck.

Jaune visibly jolted in his seat as he mentally slapped himself out of his perusal of Pyrrha's neck.

He began to shake his head like a dog drying itself.

"Are you all right, Jaune" Pyrrha asked again as she closed in on his personal space and placed her hands on his shoulders to hold him still.

She made him level with her and began to inspect his face, not realising she was the cause of his discomfort.

Jaune hurriedly pushed her hands away, though he felt guilty for such force on Pyrrha, who was just trying to help.

But he had to get away.

Right now!

"Sorrygottagotothenurse'soffice!"

Jaune had a hand clamped over his mouth as he sprung from his seat and ran out the cafeteria, shouting over his shoulder.

* * *

**So ah... this happened because I was replaying Tsukihime, and I came across the scene where a girl was attacked by a vampire and transformed into a fully fledged one out of all odds.**

**So like my new plan, I will focus on short snippets and drabbles, though I will eventually get back to writing actual chapters and full blown stories as well.**

**Oh yeah! What the hell is with the attention my JaunexCinder story got? ****Man, you guys loved it apparently, and also really really really want a continuation of the story...**

**I'm not saying I got something in the works...**

**But I got something in the works. **

**ALso, for those that care, I will be rewriting Jaune: The Gamer. My hiatus from it, and my new perspective on writing is making new things possible, so I will be re-doing that story and it is _indeed_ an actual story with continuous chapters and arcs and stuff.**

**In regards to The Outsider's Mark, I had a complete chapter written, but I scrapped it and am now restarting it, that will probably get updated in about a few weeks due to midterms coming up.**

**So yeah, sorry for the long Author's note, I hope people enjoyed this, and I hope everyone has a good day!**

**Sincerely,**

**Desodus**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

**Feeling Different?**

* * *

Jaune sprinted down the halls of Beacon, not actually sure where he was running; he had planned to go to the Nurse's Office to get an ice pack at the beginning, but his sudden confrontation with Pyrrha had freaked him out too much and now he was aimlessly running around with a hand clamped over his mouth and another cradling his jaw.

All in all, he made for a funny sight in the hallways.

It won't be for another ten minutes until Jaune finally meandered his way into the Nurse's Office by pure chance.

Though once inside, he found it completely empty.

Taking a look around to make sure the room was indeed empty, Jaune saw down on the single bed in the corner, rubbing his jaw.

Although the pain had lessened the further he got away from Pyrrha, it still flared up every now and then, and it still just throbbed as well.

In fact, he wasn't even sure _WHY_ his jaw was hurting so much all of a sudden...

Maybe this was karma for not drinking his milk when he was younger! If that was the reason, Jaune promised to drink milk every day for the rest of his life! Just make the pain stop!

Jaune sighed, and then winced as the exhalation caused the pain to flare.

He absentmindedly looked around the empty room; where was the nurse?

He was so engrossed with the empty room that he completely missed the sight of the little girl exiting his shadow and sitting down beside him.

Said girl was wearing what appeared to be an apron-like dress that had a red bow on the front. She luminescent yellow eyes and blonde hair that fell far down her back, but the ends curled outward, giving the impression that she styled it so for whatever reason.

She also had on a weathered leather flight cap complete with a pair of cracked goggles. One of the straps that went underneath the chin was torn as well. The cap has seen much better days.

"How art thou, servant?" she asked while inspecting the nails upon her right hand.

"Wha!" Jaune cried out in alarm as his body jumped in fright, causing him to land in a heap upon the floor, tangled in the blanket he had grabbed in surprise.

"Kekekekeke" went the little girl as she laughed at the poor boy's plight.

"Who?! What?! Where?!" Jaune exclaimed as he finally succeeded to pulling ht blanket off of his body as his eyes scored the room for the speaker.

Of course, they didn't have to travel far as they landed upon girl sitting upon the bed. Upon then his eyes widened and his face paled.

"M-M-M-Monster!" Jaune shrieked as peddled backwards while on the ground, all the way until he hit the opposite wall. The pain in his jaw forgotten.

His body shook as he remember what had happened the night before, vividly remembering the little-girl-that-was-not-actually-a-little-girl with the glowing red eyes attacking him and biting into his neck. Remembering the phantom feeling of having his blood sucked from its veins.

"S-Stay back!" Jaune cried, eyes stuck on the figure of the little girl. "I'm warning you!"

One of Jaune's hands was currently searching blindly on the side for something, anything to use as a weapon against the monster sitting on the bed, whom was not even paying him any attention.

"Thou speakst to thy with such impunity?" the little girl asked, still not looking at him. "Dost thou wish to be punished?"

Jaune picked up on the odd speaking pattern, but was currently too busy looking for a weapon to care.

Finally his questing hand wrapped around something that was cold, smooth and felt like metal. He brandished it before him, as if to ward off the girl.

"Kekekekeke" the girl laughed as she got a good look at what Jaune was threatening her with.

Jaune too was able to see what he was holding more clearly now.

It was a stethoscope.

He lowered his arm weakly as his shoulders sagged in defeat, before clutching the stethoscope to his chest in fear.

"Are you here to kill me?" Jaune squeaked out, scrunching himself into the smallest ball humanly possible, and then some, peeking at the girl through a gap in his arms.

"No child" the girl answered with another laugh. "Why wouldst I kill my new toy?"

"T-Toy?" Jaune asked in confusion.

"Yes, it has been millennia since I have turn a human" the girl said with a nostalgic smile upon her face. "I hope to have much entertainment... that and donuts"

"Donuts?" Jaune gave a confused look at the sudden change of focus before shaking his head. "'Turn'? I don't understand..."

Apparently, regular, normal danger made Jaune somewhat more talkative than imminent life threatening danger.

"Doth thou not understand?" the girl asked in a bored manner. "Thou art now a vampire, or more like a half-vampire, semantics, really"

"Oh, just a 'half vampire'..." Jaune repeated dyly.

Before his eyes rolled up and he promptly keeling over in a dead faint.

"Hmm?" the girl noted. "Thou art unconscious once more?"

With a sigh, the girl stood on top of the bed before casually leaping off of it and performed several flips through the air as she landed in front of Jaune's unconscious body with not even a whisper.

"Well it appears thou shalt sleep for the time being" the diminished vampire said as she straddled the boy. "But for now, I shalt take my dues"

She opened her mouth wide, fangs elongating to glisten in the light as she brought her head down upon Jaune's neck, biting into the flesh.

* * *

When Jaune woke up once more, there were no violent reactions, sense of fear, dread or even impending doom; Jaune felt refreshed, invigorated like never before.

He was also tucked snuggly underneath the blankets of the bed in the Nurse's Office, though he could not for the life of him remember why he was here in the first place.

He blinked several times to adjust his eyes to the light of the room, casting his gaze around, he was surprised to see Pyrrha patiently sitting in a chair by his bed.

"Are you feeling better, Jaune?" she asked, giving him a warm smile. "The nurse said you had a small fever"

"I feel... I feel great" Jaune answered as he sat up and stretched. Feeling the best he had ever felt in a long time.

One of his hands came up to rub his jaw as he rotated it around, and to his happiness, the pain had disappeared as well.

"How long was I here?" Jaune asked.

"Only a little over an hour or so" Pyrrha answered. "You ended up missing Grimm Studies only"

"That's a shame" though Jaune didn't appear to mourn the loss of missing out on one of Professor Port's illustrious stories.

"Time for class now, Jaune" Pyrrha said as she stood up from her seat.

Jaune nodded as he got off the bed and stretched once more, hearing a satisfying crack from his back, shoulders, and knees as he shifted in place.

As the two of them were about to exit the room, the door opened from the other side and a woman walked in.

"Ah, hello, Nurse Oshino" Pyrrha greeted the woman.

"Is he feeling much better now?" the woman asked.

"Yes ma'am, the fever broke and his Aura did the rest" Pyrrha answered.

Jaune paused as he caught sight of the person entering the room; she was tall, taller than him and about slightly taller than the headmaster himself, she had on a simple lab coat and was carrying a clipboard in one hand.

What drew confusion with Jaune though, was that she looked extremely familiar, it was just that he couldn't place it; a nagging in his head, just at the edge of his memory.

The woman in question had long blond hair that fell all the way to her knees, but the ends curved upwards so much that it actually only reached her lower back. She had a black and red dress which ended just above her knees and underneath that were black stockings.

She also had a pair of familiar amber eyes. Though Jaune attributed that to just seeing Blake everyday for the past several weeks.

Her face was so familiar, but Jaune couldn't for the life of himself put a name to it.

"Jaune, we need to hurry or else we'll be late for Combat Training" Pyrrha said as she left the exited the room, waiting for him to join her.

"Yeah, sure, on my way" Jaune said, distractedly.

He exited the room, though he looked back several times at the Nurse as he did; the woman was not paying any attention, sitting at the desk in the corner as she read something from her clipboard.

As the two of them navigated their way through the halls of Beacon, Jaune continuously was stuck thinking about Nurse Oshino.

Not in that way, mind you, but in puzzlement.

Jaune just couldn't stop trying to figure out where he had seen her before, which is weird, because today was the first time to has ever seen that woman in the first place!

Even after being sent to both the Nurse's Office and even the Infirmary numerous times in the past for injuries and Aura exhaustion.

"Pyrrha" Jaune began. "Who was that nurse?"

A thoughtful look crossed her face as she pondered the question.

"Hmm, I don't actually know" she answered. "This is the first time I have ever seen her. Why do you ask, Jaune?"

"Nothing, nothing" Jaune muttered as he shook his head. "I don't even know myself"

Talking between the two of them stopped as they arrived at the auditorium room where combat lessons were held.

Entering the room, the two found it already mostly full with their classmates and Professor Goodwitch stood at the head with her riding crop in hand and impatiently being tapped against the length of her left arm.

"Now that Ms. Nikos and Mr. Arc has graced us with their presence, we can now begin with today's class" Professor Goodwitch said with a frown at the two latecomers.

"I'm sorry Professor, I was collecting Jaune from the Nurse's Office" Pyrrha answered.

"Again, Mr. Arc?" Goodwitch asked, with a frown at Jaune. "What was it this time; Aura exhaustion? Fatigue?..." she paused as her frown deepened. "Paper cut?"

Jaune reddened in embarrassment as he stammered out an answer.

"I um, had a slight fever and was resting..." Jaune tapered off at how lame that reason sounded, even to himself.

"Yes, well you appear fine now" Goodwitch said as she turned back to the class as a whole. "Fine enough to be part of today's demonstrations"

Jaune paled at that as he began to sweat nervously.

"Today, I will be explaining the tournament format" she turned to Pyrrha. "Please take a seat, Miss Nikos, and Mr. Arc, if you would prepare yourself please"

Jaune slumped his shoulders as he left the room to get his weapon and armor.

"Mr. Winchester, will you also prepare yourself, you will be Mr. Arc's opponent"

Cardin Winchester gave smirk as he stood up from his seat and made his way to the locker rooms.

Pyrrha frowned as her eyebrows furrowed and she gnawed her lower lip in worry, no one else seemed particularly worried about the upcoming match, in fact, most students looked bored, including the girls from Team Ruby. But Pyrrha could hear several snide comments made about Jaune behind her, and it was taking much of her discipline to not turn around and start suplexing the members of Team Cardinal.

At least Ren and Nora seemed uneased at the situation. Ren with his lips pursed and Nora wasn't smiling and amicably talking anymore.

Pyrrha really hoped that Jaune could hold his own, even for a few minutes.

* * *

Jaune didn't know what was wrong, but something was up; not only did his armor feel weird on him, but _Crocea Mors_ and its accompanying shield both felt weird in his hands as well.

He couldn't understand what was wrong; the armor fit snugly against his clothes, and _Crocea Mors_ was the exact same sword for the past few generations since its forging.

It just _felt_ wrong though.

Jaune didn't understand why, and he couldn't even fathom how to express it properly, though there wasn't really a point in bringing the issue up with Professor Goodwitch; he would just be belaying the inevitable of getting his ass handed to him by Cardin.

So Jaune saddle up to the front of the classroom, up onto the raised stage where Cardin already stood waiting with his mace easily resting upon his shoulder.

Getting in position, Jaune nervously readied himself to give as much as he got... or most likely trying to not get turned into human paste in the next couple of minutes.

"Greet!" Goodwitch called out.

Jaune gave the formal bow taught in class, while Cardin sneered as he dropped his chin a couple of centimetres.

"Begin!" And so the fight commenced.

Jaune gulped audibly, but even that caught in his throat as Cardin just flat out shoulder rushed him. Jaune scrambled to get out of the way, diving to the side at the last minute.

But that had been telegraphed by Winchester. As Jaune was in the air, his heavy mace casually swung through the air and connected on Jaune's shield with a **CLANG**.

Jaune landed sprawl on the ground from the impact, to the loud cheers of the other three members of Team Cardinal.

Cardin didn't see the need to finish the fight so early, so he waited as Jaune slowly got back up.

He didn't appear to have a care in the world, Cardin was even whistling a show tune as he waited, swinging his mace from side to side, obviously not seeing Jaune as any threat at all.

Jaune took a calming breath before entering his guard once more; all he had to do was not look like an idiot.

Which was pretty damn hard when he's lost every single match since classes started, and is the only person in the class without a modicum of Aura control.

Plus he ranked dead last in simulated drone combat.

Against Beginner Bots no less.

Jaune frowned as he positioned once more across from Cardin, he couldn't win through a contest of strength... then maybe he could win through tactics.

Ideas raced through Jaune's head as he created new ones and discarded others to form the best way to take Cardin down a peg or two.

Jaune broke into a sprint as he charged Cardin.

Desperate times called for desperate measures as they said.

Card had a look of surprise for a second before that too turned into a smirk as he waited for Jaune to come to him, his mace held loosely to the side.

He lazily brought his mace around to meet Jaune's charge, but as he brought his weapon down, instead of it either connecting against Jaune's shield, or more satisfying against Jaune himself, the mace met thin air and Cardin was left offset as the momentum from his swing made him stumble forward.

Right into Jaune's shield as he sprung up from his kneeling position on the ground.

Several of the students watching the match gave sympathetic winces of pain when the shield struck Cardin's lower jaw and chin, an audible _**THUNK**_ as Jaune propelled Cardin backwards.

Jaune followed up his surprise tactic with a slashing attack of his sword, attempting to capitalize on Cardin's disoriented state.

But Jaune had apparently misjudged the thickness of Cardin's skull, as Jaune's follow-up strike was easily blocked and he was pushed back by Cardin's sheer brute strength.

Now Jaune found himself once more on the back-foot as Cardin came at him with a vengeance, a scowl etched on his face as he swung his mace.

Jaune hastily paced his shield in front of himself as he backpedaled, though that only left him with even worse footing as the mace struck his shield, sending him sprawled across the auditorium stand a second time.

Jaune grimaced as he slowly got back up, using his sword as a crutch as he did so, his left arm felt bruised and battered, and it hurt to raise it past chest height.

He looked up at Cardin, who still looked royally pissed, but still had the capacity to laugh and sneer at Jaune's tired state.

At that moment, Jaune wanted nothing more than to permanently wipe it off of his face, with whatever means necessary.

This sense of rising anger gave Jaune the strength to stand up tall, and once more have a go at Cardin, shield held as high as possible in the current state of his arm as he took a great swing at him.

Once more, Jaune was pushed back and struck down.

Taking several deep breathes, Jaune struggled to keep his arms up, _Crocea Mors_ and its shield weighing heavily in his hands.

He looked at Cardin, who laughs at him. Jaune gathered strength to charge forward again for another attack, swinging his blade at Cardin, only for him to jump out of the way.

Jaune looks back, eyes wide in surprise, as Cardin's mace slams onto Jaune's shield, ripping it from his grasp as Jaune was sent flying back.

Jaune gnawed at his lower lip, tasting the salt from his sweat. Now only armed with his sword, Jaune is left with very little choice but to attack with everything he had. Swinging his sword around for another strike, but only for it to be blocked by the mace's hilt.

Their weapons locked, Cardin forced himself closer, towering over Jaune.

"Time to lose, Jauney boy!"

Jaune didn't say anything, too busy trying to stop his arms from buckling under the oppressive strength of Cardin.

Jaune gave a grunt of pain as Cardin kneed him in the gut, sending him crashing to the ground as _Crocea Mors_ clatters away.

Jaune's eyes widened in terror as he watched Cardin's mace come crashing down upon his back, knocking the air from his lungs and sending him flat upon the stage floor.

Things got a bit hazy for Jaune now; his vision was all blurry with spots, there was a distinct coppery taste in his mouth, he couldn't feel his limbs, at least there was sound entering his ears, but it was as if it was being shouted across long distances, or as if speaking underwater, almost indecipherable to him.

But then suddenly everything came into hyper-focus.

Jaune had to shut his eyes as he attempted to curl into a ball as all of his senses simultaneously overloaded.

Then silence.

Jaune slowly got back up, no longer feeling any of the aches and pain from seconds earlier. He looked around in astonishment; everything was in such high detail! He could make out and even count the individual number of stitches on the banner hanging overhead.

That caused him to pause for a second.

"See professor, he's fine"

Jaune looked up as someone interrupted his thought.

"Mr. Arc, are you alright?" Professor Goodwitch asked, a slight look of concern on her face.

"I'm..." Jaune paused. Just how exactly was he feeling right now? "I'm fine" he smiled reassuringly at her. "Perfectly fine"

It was true, he hadn't felt this good in years, the feeling was better than even from earlier when he had just awoken from his sleep. It was if he was suddenly bursting with energy. His smile faltered momentarily as the ache in his jaw returned though.

"Let's finish the demonstration" Jaune said as he went to pick up his sword and shield.

"Mr. Arc, you are in no shape to-!" Goodwitch paused mid-lecture at what her touchpad was showing her.

Jaune's Aura meter had suddenly replenished itself fully. She tapped a few keys, resetting the diagnostic and doing another scan; it could be a possible malfunction in the programming.

But it was working as intended; Jaune was back at full Aura levels and not dangerously in the red like before.

"You sure, Jauney boy?" Cardin sneered.

"Yeah, let's finish this" Jaune answered with a smile.

"V-Very well, ahem, then fighters, take your places once more" Professor Goodwitch said as she backed away from the stage. "Begin!"

* * *

Pyrrha's jaw was currently resting on the ground... along with everyone else's as well.

No one could truly believe what they had just witnessed, they could only gawk at the aftermath.

* * *

**Author's Note: So here is an update, too bad it wasn't for my more liked stories. Funny thing, I had this sitting on my hard drive for the past year or so, I just never go farther than uploading it to Doc Manager on this site. So that sucks, since I haven't even thought about this in a while.**


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